Political Dig

It was revealed on Friday that Donald Trump’s former attorney John Dowd tried to funnel money from the White House to pay off legal fees for Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Dowd tried to convince White House associates by saying that “he wanted to direct money from the legal defense fund set up for White House officials and campaign aides to the lawyers for Messrs. Manafort and Gates.”

Dowd was not approved to send the money as some White House adviser claimed that Gates and Manafort were being prosecuted for crimes they committed prior to joining Trump’s campaign.

But according to the Journal, Dowd didn’t give up on his quest to funnel money to Manafort. He reportedly began to as Trump associates for donations, claiming that he would put in $25,000 of his own money.

Dowd did tell the Journal that he never ended up putting up his own money to help Manafort, saying, “Upon the advice I received, I did not make that contribution.”

Dowd also claimed that it wasn’t his intention to interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation by raising money for Manafort and Gates. He said that he believed the two former Trump associates were being treated unfairly by prosecutors.